“Is it? How did it end up here?” Yuan Ming looked at the agile and delicate figure of the silver cat, his mind in a mess.
In a daze, Yuan Ming saw the silver cat stop in front of him, turn around, and glance at him.
In the midst of the hallucination, Yuan Ming clearly saw the silver cat’s two different-colored pupils. His confused mind suddenly cleared up a bit.
For some reason, he felt that the silver cat seemed to be waiting for him.
Subconsciously, Yuan Ming took a step towards the direction where the silver cat was, but his steps were still unsteady.
Just as he approached, the silver cat ran forward and disappeared after circling around a black protruding stone.
Yuan Ming stumbled and chased after it, running to the back of the black stone. He only saw a pitch-black hole the size of a water bucket on the wall, but he didn’t find the figure of the silver cat.
He looked around but couldn’t find any trace left by the silver cat.
At this moment, the sound of a commotion came from behind him, as if someone was fighting and approaching.
Yuan Ming’s figure swayed, and he plunged into the black hole, leaning down after his upper body entered, and fell down.
After his figure fell into it, a layer of hazy yellow light suddenly appeared on the black hole, covering it up.
When the light dissipated, the hole also disappeared.
…
After an unknown amount of time, Yuan Ming gradually woke up, but still felt dizzy and headache.
The burning pain from his shoulder made him open his mouth and let out a few “hiss” sounds.
Subconsciously, Yuan Ming reached out his hand and touched under him, feeling a sticky sensation in his palm.
At the same time, a mixture of bloody and putrid smell rushed into his nostrils, making him unable to help but feel nauseous.
He tried to open his eyes wide to see the surrounding environment, but the darkness around him was as thick as ink. No matter how hard he tried, he still couldn’t see anything.
As time passed, the dizziness in his head gradually subsided. He groped to try to stand up, but his palms and knees collided with the things around him, indicating that the surroundings were extremely uneven.
Yuan Ming didn’t move recklessly, but explored and felt around him. What he touched were all severed limbs and arms, unable to distinguish whether they belonged to humans or animals.
Some of them had already decayed into bare bones, some had rotted into mud, and some seemed to have just died recently, with bloodstains still not dried up.
Among the corpses, Yuan Ming touched the fur draped over the flesh and the clothes made of silk fabric. With a slight guess, he knew that these were the bodies of beast slave and Biluo Cave disciples.
“It seems to be a mass grave here?” Yuan Ming speculated in his mind, unable to help but shiver.
It wasn’t that he was afraid, but the temperature around him was indeed very low, with heavy Yin energy. Coupled with the complex and unpleasant smell, it made it difficult to breathe.
Yuan Ming gently touched his shoulder and found that the wound was still swollen, but the pain had decreased a lot. His mind was also not as confused and muddled as before, giving him some peace of mind.
He knew that this place was not safe, and was about to get up when he suddenly heard a voice, as if it was coming from his mind:
“I…”
The moment he heard the voice, Yuan Ming froze, immediately held his breath, and listened carefully.
“I… am you, don’t… don’t move.”
“I am you, don’t move, what does that mean?” The voice intermittently sounded, leaving Yuan Ming confused.
Just as he subconsciously wanted to ask, “Who is speaking?” the voice suddenly sounded again in his mind, this time more coherent.
“I… am you… if… you move, you will die.”
Upon hearing this, Yuan Ming became even more suspicious.
His rationality restrained him from speaking out, and also stopped him from immediately getting up.
Yuan Ming slightly raised his head, looking slightly higher than the rotten bones beside him, secretly looking towards a farther place, but it was still pitch black and he couldn’t see anything.
But just at this moment, a faint red light suddenly lit up, illuminating an area of several zhang in radius, making it blood-red and dim, like a ghost cave.
Taking advantage of this faint light, Yuan Ming cautiously looked around, trying to find out who had reminded him earlier, but he couldn’t see anything.
And when his gaze focused on the place where the light was shining, he couldn’t help but tremble.
“Human Demon King…”
He saw a six-foot-square blood pool right below the uneven stone wall. The blood inside was churning, emitting a red light that dyed the wall behind it blood-red.
Inside the blood pool, the Human Demon King with two horns on his head was sitting, his eyes closed slightly, tilting his head back, and his mouth wide open.
Three inches above his mouth, in the empty space, there was a round black bead the size of a lychee, suspended in the air. It was covered with strands of dark red mist, gently churning, like morning clouds and mist.
At this moment, vague human-shaped phantoms began to float out of the blood pool, being pulled and absorbed into the black bead by an invisible force.
Yuan Ming held his breath, his gaze fixed on the Human Demon King, his heart beating rapidly.
After waiting for a long time, just as his neck was starting to ache, the eyes of the Human Demon King suddenly opened. There was no trace of pupils, only blood condensed inside.
He opened his mouth and sucked, and the black bead sank down and fell into his mouth.
Yuan Ming focused his gaze and found that the bead did not sink into the Human Demon King’s abdomen, but was suspended between his throat, neither up nor down, looking like his Adam’s apple.
As the black bead was swallowed, a layer of black mist immediately condensed on his face, and then flowed into his eyes, being absorbed completely.
The blood color in the Human Demon King’s eyes slightly receded, and his pupils turned black. His aura suddenly surged, transforming from a living corpse into a demonic being.He saw Yuan Ming curl his fingers into a claw, reaching down into the void above the blood pool.
Suddenly, bubbles began to gurgle up from the churning blood pool. The blood seemed to boil and surge, lifting a rough-hewn long knife that looked as if it had been hewn from stone. The rising blood carried the knife into the hands of the Human Demon King.
The Human Demon King gripped the long knife, leapt out of the blood pool, and charged straight into a cave tunnel on the side. In an instant, he disappeared without a trace.
As he left, the surface of the blood pool gradually calmed down, but about a dozen vague shadows began to float out from within, all converging towards the corpse pit where Yuan Ming was.
Before he could get a clear look, the light in the blood pool went out, and darkness fell again.
Yuan Ming, who had just slightly relaxed his mind, suddenly tensed up again, his breathing became rapid, and he struggled to get up.
However, when he tried to prop himself up, he found that his arms had become stiff and numb at some point, and he couldn’t even feel their existence.
Upon closer inspection, he was horrified to find that not only his arms, but also his legs had completely lost sensation. Although he could still feel his upper body, he was unable to move.
“Damn, the poison is taking effect.” Yuan Ming’s heart sank.
He had been accidentally poisoned during his previous fight with Kun Tu and the others, and now it seemed that the poison was about to fully take effect.
Yuan Ming was extremely anxious, but he couldn’t even move, let alone save himself.
Although he couldn’t see those ghost-like shadows at the moment, he could feel the temperature around him dropping again. His hairs stood on end, and that thing was coming…
Before Yuan Ming could react, he suddenly felt a chill at the back of his neck, as if something had attached itself there.
Then, the chill spread throughout his body, causing him to stiffen involuntarily.
“Is it a ghost or a spirit?” Yuan Ming wondered in his heart.
At this moment, the chill at his neck intensified, and those ghosts seemed to be burrowing into his body.
Just as Yuan Ming felt as if he was falling into an ice cellar, getting colder and colder, a warmth suddenly surged from his right arm and spread to his back in an instant.
The moment this warmth flowed through, it actually dispelled the chill that was like a ghost possessing his body.
Yuan Ming couldn’t see it, but he could feel that the temperature around him had risen slightly, returning to its original state. However, he was still unable to move.
Even though the ghosts were no longer bothering him, if he couldn’t escape, being trapped here was not a solution. Even if he didn’t die from the poison, he would most likely die when the Human Demon King returned.
After thinking carefully in his mind, Yuan Ming realized that there was no solution.
The Fur Coat Technique was useless in this situation, and forcibly running the Nine Yuan Secret would not only fail to resist the poison, but might also accelerate the poison’s rush into his brain due to the operation of the technique, causing him to die faster.
As for the incense burner on his arm, it had previously helped him block soul damage, but it had never shown any detoxification ability. Would it be useful?
But now that he had no other options, Yuan Ming could only hold onto the idea of trying to save a dying horse, and began to try to communicate with the incense burner.
As a bit of mana was channeled towards the incense burner on his arm, a faint light began to shine there, and an incense burner mark emerged. It gradually solidified, and one of the legs of the burner had already materialized.
At this moment, a strong sense of numbness suddenly doubled, forcing Yuan Ming’s mana to be interrupted, and the incense burner on his arm disappeared again.
His last hope was also gone.
Yuan Ming cursed inwardly, but a flash of inspiration suddenly struck his mind.
“Thank you for your reminder just now. Could you please lend me a hand again?” Yuan Ming wasn’t sure if anyone would hear him, but he still called out.
As soon as his words fell, there was silence all around, and no one responded.
“Since you reminded me, you must not want me to die like this, right? Please… help me escape.” Yuan Ming continued to call out.
The surroundings were still silent, with no response at all.
“Wha… do I do if I can’t move, and there’s no one to help?” The poison spread further, and Yuan Ming’s throat began to numb. His pronunciation became distorted, and his words became unclear.
Just when Yuan Ming was about to fall into despair, that voice finally came again, still sounding directly in his mind:
“Foolish… fellow.”